1988a); they also display long tails outside the principal absorbance bands, which originate Smad phosphorylation from differential scattering of left and right circularly polarized beams (Garab et al. 1988b). We stress that the same type of samples such as those of large disordered LHCII aggregates (Simidjev et al. 1997) or thylakoids that are suspended in low ionic Captisol molecular weight strength hypotonic media (Garab et al. 1991) (see also Fig. 3, dashed
curve), exhibit no psi-type CD but similarly intense (but not differential) light scattering. Theory predicts that the magnitude of the psi-type CD signal is controlled by the volume (size), chromophore density, and pitch of the helically organized macrodomain (Kim et al. 1986). For the size dependency, Barzda et al. (1994) have provided clear evidence for it, using lamellar aggregates of LHCII.
The intensity of the psi-type CD was gradually decreased by mild detergent treatment, which was accompanied by a gradual decrease of the diamagnetic susceptibility; this latter quantity evidently depends on the size and the order of the components in the aggregates. At the same time, in photosynthesis, large aggregates can serve as the basis for long-distance migration RXDX-101 clinical trial of the excitation energy, which might be important in energy supply for the reaction centers and its down-regulation via non-photochemical quenching. Psi-type CD has been shown to depend on the macro-organization of the pigment system. LHCII and LHCII-only domains (cf. Dekker and Boekema 2005) have been shown to play significant roles in this organization (Garab and Mustárdy 1999; Holm et al. 2005). Using minor antenna mutants, the role of ordered DNA ligase arrays of LHCII–PSII super-complexes has been demonstrated with the aid of CD measurements on leaves and isolated thylakoid membranes, and electron microscopy on PSII membranes (Kovács et al. 2006). In Arabidopsis mutants, the level
of PsbS protein correlated with the amplitude of the psi-type CD, which is consistent with the notion that PsbS regulates the interaction between LHCII and PSII in the grana membranes (Kiss et al. 2008). No systematic study has been conducted in algal cells, but it is clear that the chiral macro-organization features vary from species to species (or perhaps genera to genera). Only relatively weak psi-type CD could be identified in the Chla/Chlb/Chl/c containing alga Mantoniella squamata (Prasinophyceae) (Goss et al. 2000). Whole cells and isolated chloroplasts of the Chl c-containing alga Pleurochloris meiringensis (Xanthophycea) exhibit intense psi-type bands (Büchel and Garab 1997). Whole cells of the diatom Phaeodactylum tricornutum, containing fucoxanthin-Chl a/Chlc proteins as the main light-harvesting antenna complexes, appear to show intense psi-type CD (Szabó et al. 2008).